The primary goal of this site is to provide mature, meaningful discussion about the Vancouver Canucks. However, we all need a break some time so this forum is basically for anything off-topic, off the wall, or to just get something off your chest! This forum is named after poster Creeper, who passed away in July of 2011 and was a long time member of the Canucks message board community.

Wildfaery wrote:Aaron, don't know how this has anything to do with facial hair...but do know that balding men have more testosterone than full haired men. also i do know from a female perspective that examination and the RIGHT blood testing can detect a more accurate picture of of whatever process is going on...thyroid...breast tissue and cervix health.Namaste,WF

The facial hair thing was more directed at Topper and the whole Movember thing. Sorry may have been a bit confusing.

Topper wrote:BCMed, because of the high false positive rate, does not cover PSA testing. Fortunately, an annual conference I attend offers free PSA testing.

The unfortunate thing about screening for prostate cancer is that there is a high number of false positives, as prostate enlargement will give the same signals as prostate cancer, and the therapy used may lead to incontinence, impotence and actually shortening your life. Thus they have decided agaisnt screening here in Sweden. It's a constant debate though. If they can come up with improved tests that give more specific results and if they can develop treatment methods that are less brutal/messy/destroying your quality of life, screening could become an option. Of course, if you suspect something you can be tested, but they advice against general screening for the reasons I just stated.

Prostate cancer happens to almost all men if you get old enough, but it is usually benign and most people die from other causes before the cancer gets them. That being said, I had at least two brothers of my paternal grandmother die from it, so I should probably check if I carry the bad gene. My grandmother died in her forties from ovary cancer, and that killed at least two of her siblings as well, plus one of my aunts. One of my cousins got herself tested, and she has a rare type of genetical predisposition for breast/ovary cancer. Seems in our family it's just been ovary, so she had those removed. My sister has checked and she didn't have it. The people at the lab were a bit concerned though about the two early prostate deaths, since that should not really be linked, but since this was a rare variety, they figured it could be, but not found in literature yet. I'm not overly concerned though since neither my father, uncle or two older cousins seems to have had any issues, so I figure it's moot. Might contact the lab just to have it ruled out though. If I however do carry that bad gene, I guess testing could be an option, but not till I start sensing prostate problems.

Aaronp18 wrote:Maybe I'll post a pic at the end of the month. Something like Clam's avatar

....or maybe not.

I PM'd this little diddy to Clam about his avatar a month or so ago; good opportunity to share it with y'all.....

One of my 7 year old boys was looking over my shoulder as I was reading one of Clams posts and he says to me ""Daddy, that man must not be able to talk with his head shoved all the way down into his body."

My Grandpa had it in his eighties, (don't think thats what eventually got him at 88 though) and my cousin on my Mom's side died of it at 42.

I was always under the impression that I should be getting checked when I hit my forties (btw spell check... why do we drop the "U" in four when it's multiplied by ten?)

I just went to my Doctor on Friday to get the ball rolling as I just turned 40 this summer and have had some other related-ish symptoms. He said my symptoms were "soft symptoms" and because my dad at 64 hasn't got it I wasn't at much (or enough) risk. The general rule he goes by is that if your Dad gets it at a certain age you should be checked 10 years prior to you turning that age... or turning Fifty; whichever comes first. I suppose though that with the American health care system things are quite different.

Apparently there is approximately a 1 in 2500 chance that the colonoscopy will do damage to your colon. Have you been checked?

My Dad was was only 65. Didn't even get a chance to retire and enjoy the the house they had just built for that retirement. It had already spread prior to being diagnosed. That was because my Dad had a phobia of doctors and hospitals due to his parents dying young (lung cancer for both). He never had a yearly check up.

I'm 37 and as we have a family history I get my PSA levels checked every year with my blood work but do not get a prostate exam. 1 in 2500 chance of damage is less than the 1 in 10 chance you'll get prostate cancer in your life (or something low like that).

PSA is only one indicator. You need the exam as well once you reach 40ish.

on "drainage"...indeed frequent drainage does lead to lower rates of cancer.

On the Mo rules....I know you are supposed to be clean shaven but I really can't grow a mustache and we have a steady stream of upper executives coming in the next few weeks. We determined that a pathetic goatee was slightly more professional looking than a pathetic mustache.

Aaronp18 wrote:Yep that's sort of my feeling about the 'stache, I was thinking about the handle bars but opted to keep the soul patch thingy in an attempt to soften the creepy effect of the mustache.

Thats where i'm heading as well. Never been one to keep facial hear for long because i can't get over the itchiness of the beard and the 'stache alone has never appealed to me.

Are we posting pics for the end of the month?

Sounds like it's within the rules. Some people just don't get it. If you have a goatee...you're supposed to shave it off and start fresh.

Rules

You must begin the 1st of November with a clean shaven face. You grow/groom a moustache for the entire month of November. No joining of the mo to your sideburns. No joining of the handlebars to your chin (that is considered a goatee). You must conduct yourself as a true country gentleman

LotusBlossom wrote:Sounds like it's within the rules. Some people just don't get it. If you have a goatee...you're supposed to shave it off and start fresh.

I mostly keep things clean, but i let the goat grow in case i needed something to craft a halloween identity from. I ended up as Sam Axe from Burn Notice so i just converted it to a general scruffiness but it came off and i gave myself a couple days grace before Movember officially started.